Vetting & DBS Policy

Basking Babies are committed to creating a safe environment for children, vulnerable young people and adults that are involved in our services. Please refer to our Safeguarding Policy for further details of our approach and standards towards child protection and safeguarding.

Basking Babies offers services involving babies and children and all roles within the organisation require a DBS enhanced disclosure application to be completed which will subject to applicable law and regu- lations detail spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands, final warnings and other relevant non-conviction information held on the Police National Computer.

All job applicants (including all potential franchisees) that will deliver classes to babies and children are advised that a DBS Disclosure will be carried out in any formal offer of employment, engagement or franchise. Prior to interview, Basking Babies will encourage applicants to discuss any previous convic- tions that may be part of the DBS Disclosure. This confidential dialogue will not be made known to those conducting selection interviews but may be discussed with the Senior Management Team as necessary.

Criminal records will only be taken into account for employment or franchise purposes where the conviction is relevant.

Only Head Office staff at Basking Babies will have full access to DBS Disclosures. Information may only be shared between organisations with the consent of the Disclosure applicant.

Basking Babies is enabled by the legislation to use the Criminal Records Bureau and its Disclosure system to contribute to the assessment of the suitability of applicants and existing volunteers to work with and care for children, vulnerable young people and adults.

The Disclosure will form part of the assessment of a person’s suitability and may rule them out regard- less of their other skills and talents should the offence(s) be significant and relevant.

Basking Babies will make all decisions in the best interests of babies, children and their parents and will balance the relevance and significance of the offence(s) and the rehabilitation of the offender with the need to keep babies, children, young people and adults safe.

Policy Statement

• Basking Babies will comply fully with the DBS Code of Practice and will treat all applicants, franchisees and existing staff, employees, contractors and volunteers fairly. It will not discriminate unfairly against an individual on the basis of a Disclosure of conviction or other information received from the DBS.
• Basking Babies demonstrates the welfare of a child or vulnerable person is paramount by a commitment to the below:
  
  • the welfare of the child is paramount
  • no child or group of children must be treated any less favourably than others in being able to access services which meet their particular needs
  • all children without exception have the right to protection from abuse regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or beliefs
  • the policy is reviewed, approved and endorsed by the board of trustees annually or when legislation changes
  • who the policy applies to (i.e., all franchisees, trustees, staff and volunteers)
  • children and parents are informed of the policy and procedures as appropriate
  • all concerns, and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously by trustees, staff and volunteers and responded to appropriately – this may require a referral to children’s social care services, the independent Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for allegations against staff, trustees and other volunteers, and in emergencies, the po- lice
  • a commitment to safe recruitment, selection and vetting
  • reference to principles, legislation and guidance that underpin the policy
  • arrangements for policy and procedures review
  • reference to all associated policies and procedures which promote children’s safety and welfare e.g., with regards to: health and safety, anti-bullying, protection of children online, and photography
    
• Basking Babies make DBS Disclosures mandatory for both existing employees, contractors, franchisees and volunteers that work with babies and children as well as new applicants that will work with babies and children.
• Basking Babies is committed, in line with our Equal Opportunities policy, to recruiting and retaining volunteers, contractors, staff and franchisees and to their fair treatment regardless of their ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, sensory impairment, physical or learning disability or offending background. Basking Babies recognizes the importance of a mix of talent, skills, potential, background, knowledge and experience and wishes to recruit and retain volunteers on this basis. Basking Babies wishes to positively welcome a wide range of people who can become role models and support to all babies, children, young people and vulnerable adults.
• Where an applicant will be involved either with babies or children Basking Babies will consider:
  
  • Whether the conviction or other matter revealed is relevant to the position in question.
  • The seriousness of any offence or other matter occurred.
  • The length of time since the offence or other matter occurred.
  • Whether the applicant has a pattern of offending behaviour or other relevant matters.
  • Whether the applicant’s circumstances have changed since the offending behaviour or the other relevant matter.
  • The circumstances surrounding the offence and the explanations offered.
• Basking Babies will ensure that all persons involved in making decisions or recommendations on its behalf following a DBS Disclosure are themselves subject to similar vetting and are properly trained with full knowledge of all the relevant statutory requirements and codes of practice.
• Each offence or matter occurred should be reviewed as an individual case. Applicants will be interviewed and given the opportunity to offer further details on their Disclosure.
• Following the receipt of Disclosure Certificates with significant and relevant offences, Basking Babies will review the appointment and cease the contract of employment should this be necessary.
• Basking Babies will not generally prohibit a member of staff or a volunteer from working with children, young people or vulnerable adults on the basis of a DBS Disclosure without open discussion about the Certificate with that individual. The exception to this will be if additional information is disclosed by the Police, which Basking Babies is not enabled to share. In such circumstances Basking Babies retains the right to follow internal disciplinary procedures and if necessary to suspend that person from their work until such time as the issue of additional information has been resolved.
• Basking Babies will contact applicants and existing staff and volunteers following DBS Disclosure Applications that indicate significant or relevant Basking Babies retains the right to hold the staff or volunteers’ decision on a case file as a recruitment decision.
• Should the applicant/volunteer wish to continue with their application, Basking Babies retains the right to make such investigations as it sees fit and that are reasonable to do. This will be in line with disciplinary procedures.
• The Criminal Record Disclosure Certificate will be held securely for a maximum of 6 months, after which it will be destroyed by secure means.
• It is Basking Babies’ policy to ensure that all existing employees and volunteer Disclosures are re-applied for, every 18 months after date of receipt of original Criminal Record Disclosure Certificate.
• Basking Babies will ensure that the DBS Code of Practice is available to all franchisees, employees, staff, contractors and volunteers. A copy is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-code-of-practice.

Procedure

1. All new franchisees, employees, staff, contractors, volunteers who will be working with babies and children will be asked to complete a DBS Disclosure Application at their induction.
2. They will be asked to produce valid photographic I.D such as a valid photo identity card (EU countries only), passport, driving license, or original birth certificate along with proof of address. The form will then be signed and processed. If none of these documents are available, please refer to DBS Guidance.
3. On return of the DBS Disclosure, if the franchisee, volunteer, contractor, employee or staff member has no criminal history listed, the form will be held securely on file for a maximum of 6 months, in line with the company’s Data Protection Policy and the Data Protection Act 1998.
4. If a DBS Disclosure returned lists criminal history, then point four of the policy statement will be followed.
5. The final decision based on the evidence presented in relation to the Criminal Record Disclo- sure Certificate will be at the discretion of the Founder of Basking Babies.
6. A record of the Disclosure Certificate will be kept securely on file. Once the 6-month retention period has elapsed, any Disclosure information must be immediately destroyed by secure means. A photocopy or other image of a Disclosure or any copy or representation of the con- tents of a Disclosure must not be kept. However, notwithstanding the above, a record of the date of issue of a Disclosure, the name of the subject, the type of Disclosure requested, the position for which the Disclosure was requested, the unique reference number of the Disclosure and the details of the recruitment decision taken may be kept.